Flicker ✦ STEVE ROGERS¹ [✓]

04 | QUITE THE BUZZ

IT HAD BEEN OVER A YEAR SINCE STEVE HAD "WOKEN UP", AND HE WAS STILL FINDING IT HARD TO ADJUST.

Everything was just so new, so foreign. The technology, the clothes, even the way of speaking - everything was just so strange and unfamiliar to him. Plus, it didn't help that Steve had to learn everything on his own; despite S.H.I.E.L.D. being the ones who'd found him and told him what had happened to him, they'd left him to experience the modern world by himself. So he was left frustrated and stuck, knowing he would soon be left behind if he didn't learn to adapt.

Steve still couldn't fully wrap his head around what had happened to him. After crashing the Valkyrie into the ice, he'd been suspended in a cryogenic state for sixty-seven years. He hadn't aged, he hadn't died - he was just frozen in ice while the world expanded and advanced around him. Part of him was glad to be alive, but another small part of him was crushed, knowing that all of his friends - and Peggy - were now dead. Steve was truly by himself now, with no one to turn to.

So, after another sleepless night, he'd decided to go down to the local boxing gym to clear his head. It was an old establishment, and had been around for a long time, so he was happy to find that it was in the exact same spot as he'd left it - and was still open after so many years. And it wasn't long after he arrived before he set up a punching bag and began hitting it.

But, as Steve hit the bag, memories of his experiences during the war flooded his brain, fueling his emotions. And, due to his strength, before long he had destroyed three bags.

Picking up another bag and setting it up, Steve began hitting it. But memories still raced through his mind, causing his hits to grow harder. Dancing in the bar with Peggy. Him running through a forest by the HYDRA base, dodging mortar shells, gunfire, Tesseract energy blasts. Placing the compass with Peggy's picture on the dashboard of the plane as it plummets to the ice. Peggy's voice, telling him he won't be alone. Red Skull, picking up the Tesseract and vanishing. Doctors surrounding him, shouting that he was still alive.

With one final punch, the bag was ripped open, and it was torn from the hook as it went flying across the room. Steve stared at it for a moment, then sighed. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do to the owner.

Shaking his head faintly, Steve walked over to the other fresh bags that lay in a neat row on the ground. After picking one up and hooking it back up, he began hitting it again.

"Trouble sleeping?" a voice said from behind him.

Steve turned around, seeing that it was Director Fury. The dark-skinned man had been the one to calm Steve after he'd initially woken up, and now checked up on him every now and then. Steve had to admit, he was a bit wary of him - he was a mysterious man, after all. But for now, Steve had decided to trust him - mostly because there was no one else he could trust.

Huffing softly, Steve went back to punching the bag before he said, "I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out celebrating, seeing the world," Fury said.

Steve stopped punching and walked over to the bench, unraveling the tape off his hands as he moved. Then, he sat down and looked up at Fury. "I went under, the world was at war," Steve said. "I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."

Fury followed him with a nod. "We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently."

That was when Steve noticed the file in Fury's hands. This clearly was more than just a quick visit. "You here with a mission, sir?" Steve asked.

Fury nodded. "I am."

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve asked him.

Fury stepped forward. "Trying to save it."